How is Breakwater different from Interchange?

Two rules. The tableau builds down by rank in any suit rather than down in suit, and any card may enter an empty column rather than only a King. The deal — seven columns of seven with rows two, four and six face down — the run move and the single pass through the stock are identical.

Why is this game sometimes called Alternations?

Because several play sites describe a rank-building game with alternating hidden rows under that name, and treat the alternating-colour build as a variant. PySolFC registers the rank game as Breakwater and the colour game as Alternation, and this catalogue uses PySolFC's names for both.

How many cards are hidden?

Twenty-one: three in each of the seven columns, in the second, fourth and sixth positions. Each turns face up the moment the card on top of it is moved away.

Can any card really go into a space?

Yes. Interchange's king rule is not carried over; Breakwater's row stack in the source has the default open base, and the play sites agree. A space is therefore a place to split a run at any card, which is the main way to reach the hidden ones.

No. The 55 stock cards are turned once. That is why a playable waste card should almost always be played before a board move that can wait.

Is Breakwater easier than Interchange?

Considerably. PySolFC rates Breakwater mostly skill where Interchange is extremely difficult; the suit-blind build and the open spaces turn a board that often cannot be dug at all into one that rewards choosing the right column to dig.

Breakwater Solitaire - Play Online & 100% Free

Play Breakwater Solitaire — Interchange, Built by Rank

Interchange deals seven columns of seven with every second row face down and asks you to build down in suit with only Kings allowed into a space — one of the hardest boards in the Forty Thieves family. Breakwater keeps that deal and loosens both rules: the tableau builds down by rank regardless of suit, and any card may enter an empty column. Runs still move as a unit, and the stock is still one pass with no redeal. The result is a game you can actually dig through, where the skill is in choosing which of the twenty-one hidden cards to uncover first. Free in your browser, no sign-up.

How Do You Play Breakwater?

Goal: build all eight foundations from Ace to King by suit.

Setup

Decks: two standard decks, 104 cards.
Tableau: seven columns of seven cards. The first, third, fifth and seventh rows are face up; the second, fourth and sixth are face down. Forty-nine cards, twenty-one of them hidden.
Foundations: eight, empty.
Stock: the remaining 55 cards, turned one at a time to a waste. No redeal.

Rules

Build tableau columns down by rank, in any suit: any 6 on any 7.
A packed run moves as a unit.
Any card may enter an empty column.
A hidden card turns face up the moment the card on it is moved away.
Foundations build up by suit from the Ace and are one-way.
One card off the stock at a time, and no redeal.

Breakwater Strategy

Three hidden rows sit between you and the bottom of every column. The suit-blind build makes moving cards easy; the question is always which column to dig.

Dig the column with the shallowest cover first. Every column has three hidden cards, but the face-up cards over them vary. A column whose top card can move now, exposing a hidden card, is worth more than a long run somewhere else.
Runs are free to make and free to move — so make them long. Any descending sequence is packed here. Build long runs deliberately, because a long run lifted whole into a space uncovers several hidden cards in one move.
Spaces are the best thing on the board. With any card allowed in, an empty column is a place to split any run at any point. Empty one early if you can, and do not fill it with a King out of habit.
Play from the waste before you play from the board. One pass through the stock: a card you skip is a card you may never place. A board move can usually wait a turn; a waste card cannot.
Count what you have seen. With two decks there are eight of every rank. Knowing that both red 7s are already down tells you the hidden 7s are black, and that decides where the next run should end.

Breakwater, Alternation and the Name Problem

PySolFC derives three games from one deal. Interchange builds down in suit with Kings into spaces; Breakwater builds down by rank with any card into spaces; Alternation builds down in alternating colours with any card into spaces. Many play sites describe the rank-building game under the name "Alternations" and mention the colour rule as a variant, which is why the same name means two games in the wild. This catalogue follows PySolFC's registrations: the rank game is Breakwater, the colour game is Alternation, and each guide says so.

Like every game in this family here, the first stock card is left for you to turn rather than dealt to the waste at the start.